


Pineapple and Pearls

by fab_fan



Series: Through the Years [9]
Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: 1940s, Alternate Universe - 1940s, Alternate Universe - Historical, Drama, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Historical, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, Random & Short, Short, Short One Shot, and kiss, they just need to hug it out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:09:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28192986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fab_fan/pseuds/fab_fan
Summary: Stopping at the top of the stairs, she peered at the laughing group of men.No.She was not dealing with that today.She had to spend hours helping set up the new mobile hospital, and she was not going to waste her precious free time listening to the likes of Porter act like a nice guy.And, if Porter was around…Raelle felt her before she saw her.
Relationships: Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Series: Through the Years [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065368
Comments: 23
Kudos: 74





	Pineapple and Pearls

Goddess, it had been a long day.

The type of long day where she had no idea why she wasn’t passed out in her bed, boots probably still on and sheets smelling of oil, lotion, and the pineapple that seemed to cling to everything after Rollins decided to buy a truckload and accidentally parked it where the blasters were training.

That had been something to see.

They were still finding pieces of fruit stuck under oil tanks and floating along in the water.

At least 1941 was almost over.

It had been a shit show of a year.

White t-shirt stuck to her back and torso with the thin regulation cotton partially covered by the wrinkled colorful shirt that had been a gag gift from Bellweather before she was shipped out to the island, which she was sure Byron actually bought because Abigail was not that funny or knew where to buy anything other than the fashion lining the upper crust streets of New York or some other big city, hung unbuttoned and rustled in the slight warm breeze around her thin frame, Raelle Collar trudged up the short cracked wooden steps leading to the bar with randomly strung Christmas lights, a rollicking record player that only skipped every other minute, and way too many soldiers and sailors for one place.

Course, what could one expect at the closest bar to battleship row?

What would one expect anywhere on this island?

Rubbing at her sweat streaked face, the grimy scratch of sand and grit crunching between her teeth no matter how many times she brushed, the blonde rolled her eyes when she caught sight of the uniforms that had chosen to partake in Joe’s cheap swill for the evening.

God damn boys.

Stopping at the top of the stairs, she peered at the laughing group of men.

No.

She was not dealing with that today.

She had to spend hours helping set up the new mobile hospital, and she was not going to waste her precious free time listening to the likes of _Porter_ act like a nice guy.

And, if Porter was around…

Raelle felt her before she saw her.

Half in shadows, dressed in civilian clothes, and casually holding a beer while chatting with a few of the necros stationed on the USS Clary, Scylla Ramshorn glanced her way.

Time seemed to stop.

Shit.

Spinning on her heels before the brunette could open her mouth or even blink, Raelle skipped back down the steps and into the dark.

Not today.

She was not dealing with Scylla today.

Too bad Scylla didn’t seem to agree.

“Raelle,” boots clattered gracefully down the ragged steps and hurried across the gravel after her.

Raelle picked up her pace.

This is why she should have gone to bed. Pineapple smell be damned.

“Raelle,” she was gaining on her.

“Don’t got time. Have to get back to base.” 

“No, you don’t.” a hand grasped Raelle’s shoulder and twirled her around, “It’s nine at night.”

She shrugged off the touch, causing the hand to fall back to the necro’s side, “Hospital is always open.” Raelle rubbed her finger and thumb together at her side, a touch of anxiousness seeping out.

She was too sober and too drunk on memories for this.

“You’re not always on duty.” 

“You know my schedule?” Of course she would know.

“No,” Scylla shook her head. “Raelle,”

“I don’t want to talk.” Raelle cut her off. She locked her jaw and clenched her teeth, sand, salt, and sadness mixing bitterly on her tongue, “I don’t care. I never did.”

Scylla’s back straightened at that. Spine snapped into steel, “Don’t kid yourself, Raelle.”

“Ain’t kidding.” Raelle stuck her chin out. Her thumb and finger pressed together hard. “You can go on and do whatever you want. Whatever was happening here...it ain’t happening anymore.”

“And, what was happening here?” Scylla challenged.

Raelle met her gaze, “A spy thinking she could two-time a fresh recruit.”

“That’s not what happened.” Scylla’s brow furrowed. 

“Don’t really care what happened.” Raelle took a step back, “Just don’t want to see you anymore. Think I made that clear.”

“You mean when you got yourself reassigned to a navy base without saying anything?” Scylla scoffed angrily, “I had to find out from Abigail Bellweather after you disappeared?”

“There was nothing left to say.”

“There was everything left to say!” 

“Like what?” Raelled rocked forward.

Her pop always said her temper would get her in trouble.

It could burn hot and fast, like the fires that roared along the fields during the dry season back home in the Cession.

Hot, and fast, and all-consuming.

Destructive as hell if she’d let it.

Well, it was burning bright in her chest right then.

She kept going, words harsh with a growl, “Like how you’re a spy? How everything you ever said to me was a lie? Who you are. What you do. Hell, I don’t even know if Scylla’s your real name.”

“Don’t.” Scylla shook her head, “Me working in Intelligence has nothing to do with us.”

“No?” Raelle pushed into her space, eyes as hard as the steel that formed the battleships sitting in the bay, “You didn’t seek me out because you were told to? Didn’t bring me to your bed because of orders?”

Raelle felt like she could cry or punch something at the same time.

She stared into deep blue eyes darker and more hypnotizing than the ocean. 

Eyes she’d fallen asleep to so many nights back on the mainland. 

Eyes that broke her heart.

Eyes she never should have looked at in the first place.

“If you knew anything about me, you’d know I didn’t choose to come out here.” Raelle’s voice shook. 

Scylla’s face dropped with confusion.

Raelle could have laughed if it wasn’t so sad.

If her heart wasn’t wrenched and twisted up.

“I’ve never been on a boat. I don’t know how to swim.” Raelle exhaled darkly, “Why would I volunteer to come out to the middle of the damn ocean? Be separated from my unit?” From her friends. From the only place other than the rickety house she grew up in that started to feel like home. Her voice lowered with a crack, "You think I'd go to the beach without you?" 

Scylla’s eyes narrowed as her mind worked. She couldn’t hide the slowly dawning realization as it twitched in the corners of her eyes and dipped along her mouth. She couldn't stop the visible gut punch when Raelle's last words hit her.

“Yeah,” Raelle nodded, watching her catch up, “Whatever you were up to, I got sent out here because of it. One way ticket to endless sand, sunburn, and nowhere to go.”

“No,” Scylla slowly shook her head, trying to process what she was hearing.

“I don’t know what you were up to, and I don’t care anymore. All I know is I thought the woman I loved...loved me back. Wanted to be with me because...because we worked. We fit. Not because of some super secret spy mission. I thought I was staying stateside. Going to War College. Well, jokes on me. Guess they were right when they said us Cessions don’t know nothing. Only good on the frontlines.”

“I had nothing to do with you being sent here.” Scylla blinked, her eyes racing as they looked at Raelle’s, her jaw ticking and voice breathy as she lost herself for a second in what could have been, “Raelle, there is no reason for…”

“For what?” Raelle’s teeth crushed against each other so hard her jaw ached, “For you to approach a nobody like me?”

“Stop saying that.” Scylla snapped.

“Tell me I’m lying. I’m wrong. I got everything mixed up.” Raelle spit out.

She wished she would.

She wished this was a nightmare.

Wished she’d wake up back at Fort Salem, curled up in the other witch’s arms with the bells ringing in the distance, telling her she needed to get up if she was going to make breakfast with Abigail and Tally in the mess hall.

“I love you.” Scylla shot back. She caught Raelle’s eyes with her own and refused to let them go, “I fell for you. Yes.” She admitted, confessed in a breath, “I was told to keep an eye on you. You’re powerful, Raelle. More powerful than you think. But, I fell in love with you because you’re you. What we were...what we had...had nothing to do with my job.” She took a trembling breath, fighting to maintain her composure there in the dusty dusky parking lot, “I might have kissed you first, but you made me want to kiss you forever. I didn’t tell you about my job because it’s dangerous. No one knows.”

“Porter does.”

“Because he works with me.”

Raelle rolled her eyes.

Yeah.

They worked together.

Just like they had been sweethearts.

“Raelle,” Scylla swallowed thickly, “please.”

“You lied to me.” Raelle wet her dry lips, her throat suddenly feeling like the desert, like the dirt paths that ran through the endless tilled farmland near her home. “You lied.”

“I’m sorry. I am so sorry.” Scylla’s face flickered with barely suppressed emotion, “I wanted to keep you safe. I chose you. I wanted to be with you. Whatever they wanted me to do, I didn’t do it. I promise I didn’t. I only wanted you.”

Raelle’s eyes burned as if the sun was still in the sky and reflecting off the rivets and steel sides of the ships. She pressed her lips together, mouth a thin wobbling line. 

Her heart hurt.

It hurt so much.

Her head.

Her soul.

Damn her, she still loved this girl.

Still wanted Scylla.

Needed her.

Gave her heart up and was never getting it back.

“Please,” Scylla pleaded. She slowly raised her hand, fingertips shaking, and touched the edge of the stupid Hawaiian shirt Abigial gave her with a forced smile when they said goodbye, Tally teary-eyed and hugging the blonde one last time. “I swear I’m not lying. Not about this. I would never lie about my feelings for you.”

Raelle closed her eyes, hand fisting at her side as she desperately battled to not give in.

Not fall apart.

Not forgive and beg Scylla to kiss her again.

She felt Scylla step closer to her, crossing whatever boundary was left between them, breaking the invisible barrier separating them beneath the starry night sky.

Her chin dropped to her chest, sea tinted locks falling to cover half her face.

She could feel Scylla like she could feel her own heartbeat.

Strong and steady. 

Wordless but saying and feeling so so much.

Her breath hitched as tender fingertips tentatively brushed against her jaw.

Goddess, she should be furious.

Yelling.

Storming away.

Letting Scylla hear every single thing she did to Raelle. Make her feel the pain. The agony.

The damn torture of learning how wrong she had been. How her love wasn’t returned. How she was used.

The nightmare of discovering the woman she thought could be _the one,_ could be her future, wasn’t.

How stupid she felt.

How broken.

Shattered.

“Let me prove myself.” Scylla whispered. “Please, Raelle.”

“You…” Raelle clamped her mouth shut as a wave of a sob rolled through her.

“I chose you.” Scylla lightly stroked the pad of her thumb against the corner of Raelle’s mouth, “I choose you. I will always choose you.”

“Damn it.” Raelle muttered.

Then, she kissed her.

Pressed her mouth to Scylla’s and gave in.

Gave in to the feelings inside. Her heart’s yearning. Her soul’s longing.

Gave in to the pull that had always been there. A string tying them together. Bendable and tangled, but never ending, never broken.

Gave in to blue eyes and a siren smile.

Gave in to Scylla.

Scylla kissed her back, a burst of a wet relieved gasp escaping as she fully cupped the fixer’s face and tasted a mouth she had missed. Tasted the need. The passion. 

Tasted the woman she fell in love with.

The woman she was sent to monitor. A possible bad egg. Dead mom. Civilian dad. Bad attitude. Could be trouble. 

Who better than a former dodger kid to weasel her way in and make sure the cadet stayed on the straight and narrow?

Orders Scylla soon ignored in favor of late nights in bed and sheepish dates out by the tall oak tree. For hot kisses and stolen glances. Holding hands and thrusting bodies.

For patience. Kindness. Understanding. 

For being seen.

Heard.

For finding someone for the first time who made her feel happy. Safe.

Loved.

Her arms wound around Raelle’s neck as hands hooked along her back, holding her close and letting her once again be within the arms she adored.

Their mouths slowly broke apart, Raelle nipping lightly at her bottom lip, and their noses brushed as their foreheads connected softly.

She could feel tears rolling down Raelle’s cheeks.

The same tears rolling down hers.

“Damn it, Scylla.” Raelle croaked, another tear breaking loose.

“I love you.” She delicately kissed the tear away, “I missed you.”

“How am I supposed to trust you?”

Scylla’s voice quivered, “The same way I learned to trust you. You let me prove to you that I love you. Make you fall in love with me again. You told me I could take my time. You can take yours.”

Raelle huffed wetly and sniffled.”Time.”

“Time.” Scylla repeated. 

Raelle’s hand scrunched up the back of Scylla’s jacket, “You’re not stationed here.”

Why was Scylla even there?

Scylla kissed her lips lightly, “I’ll be here for a while.” She hesitated before continuing, “There were some rumblings. Something might be happening. We’re not sure what.”

“Happening?”

“We don’t know. It’s just a few bits here and there we caught.” Scylla explained. “Nothing to tell us what or when or how. I’ll be here while we figure it out.” She took a breath, “I can be here with you.”

Raelle felt something squeeze in her chest.

Then, it felt light.

She felt lighter than she had in months.

Since she boarded the train leaving Fort Salem.

“Ok.” Raelle nodded, “Ok.”

“Ok.” Scylla smiled against her.

Raelle returned the grin.

“Nice shirt, by the way.” Scylla commented casually.

“It was a gift.” Raelle sighed heavily, “Bells thought it’d help me fit in.”

“It sure does that.” Scylla teased. “I especially like the palm trees and the coconuts. Nice touch. Very authentic. You smell like pineapple by the way. New cologne to fit in at Pearl Harbor, too?”

Raelle kissed her before she could say anything else.

**Author's Note:**

> There we are! Good? Bad? Hate it? Leave me a comment and let me know, pretty please. 
> 
> You know the system. Do I really have to recite it? Cookies. You get cookies. Reading. Kudos. Commenting. Cookies.
> 
> Also...who doesn't want to see Raelle in a gimmicky dorky tacky Hawaiian shirt? Seriously.


End file.
